Canucks and Beyond

Entries with the tag: jason jaffray

—Lindsey Craig at CBC writes about the absence of visible minorities in hockey, and the various reasons, both sociological and economic. She also touches on the fact that—for minorities and everyone else—hockey is increasingly a tough sell for parents to involve their children in with the costs being so high. It’s a good article on a topic seldom addressed in any depth.

—For something completely different, I see that Jason Jaffray’s media blitz at Canucks.com indicates he’s addicted to online hockey sites, specifically NHL.com and tracking everyone’s stats. He’s also a big Jack Johnson fan—the singer, not the hockey player. (Weird, as I’d've thought Sitting, Waiting, Wishing… would be a scary song for a NHLer.)

Vancouver recalled Nathan McIver from Manitoba this past Tuesday, concerned with a possible injury to Alex Edler. Edler ended up able to play (scoring the GWG in a shootout that night, no less) and so McIver was shipped right back to the Moose on Wednesday.

Today, McIver has been recalled yet again… and Jason Jaffray has been sent back to the Moose.

So last night, the AHL’s own Vancouver Canucks managed to whoop the reigning Stanley Cup Champions (well, technically it was maybe 30 minutes of “whoop” and 30 minutes of “please don’t kill us” but it worked out, so, whatever…) and tonight they face the Sharks.

What, me worry? Never. For one thing, the Canucks have the formidable, daunting superstar-to-be Jason Jaffray on their side (26 year old former ECHLer, first NHL game of his career last night, first NHL goal, and first star of the game. What’s not to love?). And then there’s Curtis Sanford (a.k.a. “the second coming of Patrick Roy”, a pronouncement that both pleases and nauseates me). Looking good.

But of course the Sharks deserve respect. Even forgetting their hockey skills for a moment, I was perusing San Jose’s game day notes today and was well-entertained by some random trivia. Such as:

Jason Jaffray is getting his first NHL game tonight at the not-so-tender age of 26—and his ex-boss took notice. From Iain MacIntyre at the Vancouver Sun:

The centre who spent his first five seasons in professional hockey exclusively on minor-league contracts, without a hope of playing in the NHL, will skate for the Canucks on a line with fellow Manitoba Moose callup Mason Raymond and veteran Taylor Pyatt.

Trying to absorb every minute of a day he’s been waiting a lifetime for, Jaffray went to the bench to watch the Ducks skate when he was spotted by Niedermayer, the four-time Stanley Cup winner and future Hall of Famer.

Six years ago, Jaffray was the captain of the Kootenay Ice, the junior team that is partly owned by Scott and Rob Niedermayer, who also plays for the Ducks.

“He knows the situation, knows it’s my first game,” Jaffray said. “He stops what he’s doing, comes over and shakes my hand and says ‘congratulations on the callup.’ That means everything to a guy like me - a young guy playing his first game - to have a Stanley Cup winner over and over stop what he’s doing to come and say hi to me.”

McGillis was with the team since mid-September for a professional tryout. Some of the others we can certainly expect to see again over the season. (And probably fairly soon, if the Canucks continue their recent pace of landing in the hospital…)